Poll: A majority of Americans want the next president to push gun control

Firearms are shown for sale at the AO Sword gun store
in El CajonThomson
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all Americans support President
Barack Obama's executive actions on gun control, a Reuters/Ipsos
poll found on Tuesday, with a majority saying they would support
the next president taking additional steps to tighten federal gun
laws.

Obama, frustrated with inaction from lawmakers, ordered stricter
gun rules last week that he can impose without Congress' help,
angering Republicans who say he is overstepping the boundaries of
his office.

Fifty percent of those surveyed said they supported Obama's
executive actions. More than 80 percent of those from his own
party said they were in favor of his steps, while 72 percent of
Republicans opposed them and said his successor should try to
dismantle them.

Guns have become a potent, polarizing issue in U.S. politics. The
Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to
bear arms, a right that is fiercely defended. Congress has not
approved major gun-control legislation since the 1990s.

Respondents from both parties support more research into the
causes of gun violence, the poll showed. Nearly 80 percent of
Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans said they would support
the next president, who takes office next January after the Nov.
8 election, pushing for more research.

Republicans are split on efforts to tighten gun control more
broadly. Forty-four percent of those polled said the next
president should work to tighten federal gun control laws, while
49 percent were opposed.

Sixty-three percent of Americans overall said they would like to
see the next president push for stricter gun laws.

The survey of 1,559 Americans was conducted from Jan. 8 to 12,
with a credibility interval of 3.2 percentage points.